Author's Note: I own nothing, Fairy Tail belongs to the genius Hiro Mashima.

"It wasn't supposed to happen this way." Gajeel thought to himself as he sat by Levy's bed side in the Magnolia's Magic Hospital. The job was simple, investigate reports of a new dark guild that was operating in the area. It was going as planned, until Team Natsu was ambushed by the small, but powerful enemy guild. The dark guild caught them off guard with a quick and intense attack, which is how everyone got a little busted up. Unfortunately Levy took some of the worst hits.

Levy stayed by his side just as he made her promise on Tenrou Island, but she was still injured. Gajeel was furious with himself. An enemy mage was able to lure him away just enough so that they could sneak behind him and hurt his girl. He wanted to pick a fight with anyone just to get rid of his anger, well, everyone except for Wendy. Without that little shrimp, Levy would be much worse off than she was now, with some minor bruising and busted ribs. What made him the angriest was that he was the only one who screwed up. That stupid Salamander was able to protect Lucy, Gray was able to watch out for Juvia, much to her delight, and Erza and Jellal made one hell of a team. He should have been more observant, fought harder, done anything to have kept Levy safe.

Gajeel never realized how much he did care for his little shrimp. Yeah, he teased her and was rough, but he really did care and wanted her safe. Although he'd never admit it to anyone, he loved her and it killed him to think about how close he came to losing her. If anything would have happened to her, he'd…..

Just as this crossed his mind, he heard Levy stir and saw her open her eyes.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" he asked her quietly.

"I'm fine" she replied, but as she went to sit up she hissed in pain.

"Lay back down, shrimp, you busted your ribs pretty good." Gajeel ordered her, while gently pushing her back down onto the bed.

Levy narrowed her eyes and looked away at the name shrimp, but complied with an exasperated "fine". Gajeel saw how much his comment hurt her feeling and immediately went nuts with guilt.

"Look Levy, I'm sorry, for screwing up and letting you getting hurt, and for calling you shrimp." Gajeel said dejectedly while looking at the floor, "I…I'm worried about you and I don't want you to hurt anymore…"

At this Levy grabbed his hand and squeezed it.

"It's ok, I wasn't close enough to you when they attacked, it was my own fault for getting hurt." she told him gently, "I don't blame you, I know you would do anything to protect me."

"But I…" as he tried to argue, she silenced him with a glare.

"Gajeel, it's not your fault, so get over it and move on. I'm okay. Trust me, you can't get rid of me that easy." She teased him. He just gave her a small smile and squeezed her hand.

"Is there anything I can do for you right now?" he asked

"No, not at the moment."

Just as he leaned in to kiss her forehead, the door burst open as Natsu, Lucy, and Happy thundered in.

"LEVY, we were so worried about you," whined Happy.

"How are you feeling?" Lucy asked her best friend.

"Fine, a little sore, but fine." Levy replied with a small smile.

Gajeel, feeling the room was getting too crowded, stood to leave, but Levy stopped him.

"You asked if you could do anything for me, just before, right? Would you stay with me please? Just as you told me not to leave your side, I'm asking you to stay by mine in return, please."

So he stayed.

Author's Note: This is my first fic, I hope you guys liked it. Feel free to review and tell me what you think. Please don't hate to hard, this is my first attempt at writing. If you have any requests send me a message and I'll give it a shot. Thanks for reading!